


Master Of Assassins

by timelockedmaniac



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13382211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timelockedmaniac/pseuds/timelockedmaniac
Summary: A Master gets more than he bargains for.





	Master Of Assassins

"Shut, Fill, Shut, Fill, Shut, repeat five times."

The ink started glowing red as I began my chant.

"Representing the scales of life, Featuring the embrace of death, the Assassin of fate, I call upon you, as the container of all the world’s wishes, if you heed my voice and wishes, come forth."

The circle drawn in chalk glowed an intense blue, before it disappeared, revealing three black cloaked figures.

"You who hath called forth us, we ask of you, are you our Master?"

The three adorning identical skull masks in front of me spoke as one. While the masks were identical, their features were not. One was clearly a man, but his right arm was long and bandaged up, resembling a club. The other two were women, both with purple hair, but one had her longer hair in a ponytail.

"I wasn't expecting three Assassins, but I guess that's better than just one." I cleared my throat, before addressing the three Assassins who were awaiting me. "Yes, I am your Master."

The three nodded and rose simultaneously, before turning to each other.

"You did not use a catalyst." The one with the club for a right arm noticed, voice low and quiet.

"I was expecting for a Servant I had synergy with, one that would mesh well with my personality." I explained. The three followed silently behind as I walked out of the room, and I only knew of their presence because they were mumbling amongst themselves.

"You do not seem bothered that you summoned three Servants." The shorter haired Assassin spoke up, her sultry mature voice just slightly high pitched.

I shrugged in response.

"We had a Grail War in the past with fourteen Servants a few years back, along with a Ruler class being summoned, so any anomalies in the following War don't really matter." I explained.

"We do not have any qualms with this arrangement, Master." The third Servant's voice was just lower than her other counterpart. "But we would appreciate it if you shared your plans for us."

I gave a small laughter, and glanced at my Command Seals nervously. Three Seals, one for each if needed. If I was betrayed. If I needed them.

"I don't really have a plan for three Servants, especially since I don't know the full extent of your abilities." I admitted as I lead them into the kitchen, where the back-door lead to outside.

Taking a seat by the dining table, they took the cue and sat with me. Despite their even, calm voices, their postures betrayed a sense of nervousness.

"I am Hassan of the Cursed Arm," The one with the bandaged right arm spoke first, "Simply put, I can generate a replica of my enemy's heart to crush it. I grow stronger with every heart I devour, so do leave some for me."

"I am Hassan of Serenity," The shorter haired Servant continued, "My body is laced with every poison in the world, and I can release it into the air at will. The poisons do not discern friend from foe."

"I am Hassan of Hundred Faces, and I can split my body into eighty separate Assassins, although each would be reduced to human parameters. They each will possess Presence Concealment, and are all independent. They are disposable, although my overall abilities will diminish if they die."

So, I had two Servants with the ability to kill anyone almost instantly, and another Servant with the ability to spread out to form a spy system and the potential to trick the other six Masters into thinking that Assassin had been killed.

"Is it alright if we used a passive strategy?" I asked the three.

They turned to each other, stared at each other for a few seconds, before turning to me.

"Our Master is wise indeed."

Their sudden praise caught me off guard, and I gave a nervous laughter.

"Well, I was thinking to use Hundred Faces to spy on the other Masters, survey the Servants and run a risk analysis. If any Servants appear to grow stronger with time, we can take the early opportunity to kill them quickly. If one of Hundred Faces' bodies are killed, we can covertly kill off Masters one by one since the rest of the Masters would assume Assassin is out of the picture. If its revealed to them that we have more than one Assassin, they would assume that the summoned Assassin is weak in combat and would not go for a one on one confrontation, so Serenity can go in with her higher parameters and touch the Master to eliminate them. Cursed Arm will be the backup in case Serenity is in an unfavourable situation to assassinate the Master..." I trailed off as the Servants stared at me, eyes unflinching.

"Um, sorry if I did anything wrong." I gave a small bow in apology just in case. The three could kill me in any moment, so a little respect would go a long way.

A deep chuckle broke out from Cursed Arm, before two giggles followed.

"We are lucky to have such a thorough Master." He stated.

 

* * *

 

Serenity was seated on my sofa when I entered, perusing a novel from my bookshelf.

"I didn't know you like to read." A simple passing comment as I walked to my usual seat.

"Well, I have to do something to kill the boredom while watching over you, Master." Her tone was teasing, different from the united voice I was used to hearing from the three of my Servants.

"It'll be boring with all the defences I already set up, along with the fact that I'm an unknown in the Magus Association." I reminded her of my status amongst the Masters. The Makiri, Tohsaka and Einzbern, all founding families of the Grail War, were all participating, and I only happened to be chosen by the Grail as I was travelling to Japan for a vacation. No one knew I was even part of this war, not even the supervisor. Being quiet had the advantage in Grail Wars.

"It doesn't hurt to be thorough." She teased me again, this time looking up from her book. Her skull mask, while intimidating, seemed to give me a friendly grin.

"Well, I'm sure it won't hurt to be thorough, especially since I'm providing Od to all three of you." I went along with her jesting. I needed some form of human interaction after the prior months of isolation, if a Heroic Spirit could even qualify as human anymore.

Her giggle seemed light-hearted as she turned the page.

"Then please inject more Prana in me." Her suddenly sultry and suggestive voice slid from under her mask. I couldn't see it, but I was very sure she winked at me.

I gave a mock shudder, calling her a pervert under my breath. I flipped open my notebook as she burst into laughter.

 

* * *

 

"You like our Master."

A simple observation, one she could not deny. The skull mask she was familiar with looked intimidating in the night, even if she wore a similar one.

"Yes."

Her predecessor watched her for any little movement, analysing her for something. She can’t really be blamed for falling for her Master, she rationalised, since she was always chosen to stay back to look after him. It was inevitable that she, someone who never loved, will eventually love someone.

He gave a sigh, and shook his head, seemingly in understanding, although her senior’s emotions and moods were hard to decipher from his actions alone.  
"If it doesn't intefere with our mission here, I will not intervene." He proclaimed, staring at his normal hand, before giving her a thumbs up. "I wish you luck."

He disappeared in a flash of speed, leaving two Assassins perched on the branch. A small grin grew behind her mask at his response.

"To be honest, I'm also worried that this will affect you, Se-chan. But out of curiosity, you have to tell me more about-" Serenity rolled her eyes. Out of the Hundred Faces, the one reporting had to have a nosy personality.

"No need to worry about me, our goal has priority." She forced a monotonous voice, hoping the other Assassin would leave her. A sigh escaped the Hundred Faces clone.

"It’s just like those cheesy romance novels." The exasperated mutter did not escape the honed ears of Serenity as she was left alone in the night, on the branch.

Staring at her hand, she gingerly touched a leaf with the tip of her finger, and watched it wilt instantly.

 

* * *

 

"Master?"

Serenity's voice came from the door, and I looked up to see her unfamiliar face. It held a small measure of uncertainty, that along with the fact that her mask was off meant that she was here as Serenity, not as Assassin.

"Yes?" I set aside the research I had been doing prior, and the nervousness doubled when I focused my attention on her. Her hand closed the door silently, and her brown skin glistened slightly under the candle light.

"I wanted to ask you, what is your wish?"

Ah, that. I never told any of my Servants in the duration of our partnership over the past few days.

"I want my life to be perfect, forever. Why?" An honest answer threw her off guard. I had a simple wish, one that would just benefit me. It could be obtained by myself, but I didn't want the rolling dice of fate to throw me under the bus.

"Ah, well I just wanted to know since... um..." She was shuffling her feet on the carpet. I never knew a Hassan could be this nervous.

"I'm interested in Master."

That made me pause. Under the candlelight, her features were shy and petite, a faint blush adorning her cheeks as she stood in front of me. The shadow casted by her parted purple fringe made her look adorable, a small part of me noted.

"Are you alright? Or is this another Servant posing as mine to kill me?" I asked, half in jesting. Her flustering morphed into a pout on her thin lips when she realised I was kidding.

"Master..." Her tone was warning, yet the ever-growing blush made her look adorable instead of dangerous, like the Heroic Spirit she was. Her lips melted into a small smile when she heard my laughter.

The following silence was stifling. For once, I didn't know how to answer appropriately.

"I spent my entire life achieving this toxic body," She spat out with a small measure of hatred, "And as a Hassan, I never had the opportunity to love," Her explanation was abrupt, as if she suddenly decided to reveal it, "And right as I died, I thought to myself, 'How nice would it be to be held in someone's arms, to fall in love with someone?' "

Her eyes were now distant, reminiscing.

"I didn't know who I wanted it to be, but after being summoned by you, I know now." A small smile grew, wistful and hopeful.

"Serenity, you know that’s not possible." I spoke in a soft voice, to nudge her back to reality.

Those eyes sharpened and stared right at me.

"It is with the Grail. And I will stop at nothing to win it." With that final declaration, she left the room in a blur of black.

Left alone in my room, a small seed of hope sprouted.

"No plan survives first contact." I reminded myself. “It’ll never happen.”

The small seed was buried deeper by my disposition on a happy ending.

I was no one, after all. Such an ending was impossible. Besides, happiness will never be in my plans.

 

* * *

 

“Cursed Arm, what’s your wish?”

The masked face cocked to one side, staring at my prone form on the floor. His bloody and torn robes revealed a bandaged body underneath, and his normal hand was bandaging his namesake arm, concealing the arm containing the cursed spirit.

“What’s with the sudden question?” His deep voice was inquisitive, but he obliged nonetheless. “To live forever, or something like that.”

“I thought I would ask now, since you almost just died to Berserker.” I gestured to the rubble where the Servant of Madness had just died.

He gave an uncharacteristic snort.

“I would die for you, Master. Even if my life is at risk, I will protect you.” The serious tone behind those words sent chills down my spine, even if I was his Master.

“And I’ll do the same for you.” I replied with as much sincerity as I could muster. It was only right that I would do right by him after he saved my life. He continued bandaging the orange arm, now resembling a black club attached to his shoulder, his eyes never wavering from mine.

A soft, bodily chuckle filled the air, as he stood up and pulled me to my feet.

“That you’ll do.”

 

* * *

 

“Hundred Faces.” I called, getting the attention of my Servant. She turned to me, dropping the dirk she was sharpening onto the table.

“Yes?” With a hand on her waist, she stood in front of me waiting for my question.

“What’s your wish?”

Her reply was immediate.

“Hah? Why do I have to tell you that?” She was partly joking, but her reluctance to tell me was obvious in the disdain in her voice.

“I was just curious. I never asked you before, so I was thinking of what you might wish for.” It was two weeks into the War, and Caster, Berserker and Archer’s Masters were already dead, or out of the War. None of the Hundred Faces’ were killed. The remaining Servants were Saber, Lancer and Rider. It seemed like we were against Julius Caesar, Musashibou Benkei and Saint Martha. We already witnessed all their Noble Phantasms, gauged their limits and planned accordingly. We just needed to kill their masters. Flawless victory was basically in our grasp.

The silence persisted, and it felt almost uncomfortable, as if I had just intruded on her.

“I want to unite my selves. To finally be one.” Her whisper would have been missed, if the room wasn’t so quiet. “I’ve been cursed with the voices in my head for far too long. Each wanting their own goal, their own desires fulfilled.” Her eyes glared at her hands. “I can only be freed of them if I split into bodies, but they keep… coming back.”

She growled, but the rage seemed to be directed elsewhere.

“Have you tried giving them a singular goal? A common one, which they’ll actively work towards.” I offered.

She hummed, mulling over it.

“It might work, but I have to think about it with…” She shuddered. “Them.”

I gave a smile of encouragement. “You can do this, Hundred Faces.”

She scoffed.

“I can, it’s just a matter on the rest of me.” She walked over, and ruffled my hair slightly. I gave an annoyed whine as she did so, but her condescending smirk was lorded over me.

“No need to worry about me so much Master, you got your own problems to deal with.” She gave me a pat on the head and a mischievous smirk, before she vanished into the shadows with her Presence Concealment skill.

“Well screw you too.”

I could almost hear her laughter. Almost.

 

* * *

 

The Master of Archer fell onto the ground, his sickly pale face impacting the cobblestone floor with a loud smack.

It was finally over.

Cursed Arm was breathing heavily as he leaned on the altar, the battle with the now dead magus taking its toll on him.

“Whoever said humans can’t fight Servants.” The declaration made him laugh after I wheezed out the joke. My arms were clutching my sore sides, and I glanced down at the craters left by the blasts by the enemy Master. I was lucky most of the blows on me were toned down by my magecraft. The door to the church burst into splinters as my other two Servants ran in.

“Master!” Serenity’s voice was comforting to hear. Hundred Faces was behind her, both running towards us. The relief of knowing that they didn’t perish flooded through me.

“That was too risky.” Hundred Faces scoffed at my comment and gestured at the rubble of the church around us.

“Ya think?”

We shared a laugh, before a silence descended on us. The realisation that we had won finally sunk in after a few minutes.

“It’s finally over.” Serenity spoke, her tone soft and filled with dread.

“Yeah, it’s over. I’m glad I summoned you guys.” The sentimental part of me was already missing them. They would leave after this after all. The three remained silent, but stayed by my side.

We stepped out of the church, and we were met by the sight of Zelretch. The Second Magic Sorcerer. The Wizard Marshall. The Dead Apostle. My Servants quickly dispersed into the shadows, unsure if he was an enemy. I couldn’t be sure of that myself.

“I’m the supervisor for this Grail War.” He piped up, as if he could read my thoughts, "And I think this is the first time the Assassin class ever won a Grail War." The old man in front of me muttered.

I gave him a small shrug, glancing back into the shadows of the treeline and church behind me for assurance. The darkness gave a comforting silence.

"So, do we get our wish now, Zelretch?" I asked the Kaleidoscope Magician.

The Dead Apostle looked up from his musing, and gave me a small smile.

"Of course, Jun. The four of you may make your wishes now."

The plural form of the word did not go over my head, and I was instantly wary. With a clench of my fist. my three Assassins appeared in front of me, ready to protect me.

"What do you mean wishes? I thought the Grail system had enough power to fuel just one wish when all the Servants died?" I asked, hand itching to throw a defensive Boundary Field despite the huge chasm between our abilities.

He chuckled, but his eyes were glazed over.

"The Grail has never had a single victor call forth their wish in the past two wars," He spoke wistfully, in remembrance, "And the fourth Grail War ended with an especially powerful energy based Noble Phantasm shooting into the Greater Grail."

He spoke these words as if I could understand the Grail system. All I knew was common knowledge amongst anyone who had studied the Grail, and the number of magus who did went above hundreds. The beat of silence was broken by his laughter.

"I forgot, you don't know it here." He shook his head. Being the Magician of Parallel Worlds, he must have been talking about another version of me. I kept my silence and waited for answers. I kept my silence. No matter how many Servants I had with me, Zelretch could blast them all away with a single scoff, so it would be best to not antagonise the Sorcerer.

"To put it into terms you understand, the Grail absorbs all forms of Mana and converts it into a wish." He explained patiently, eyes sparkling under the moonlight. "Two wishes worth of Mana was absorbed from the ambient leylines, and a single wishes' worth of mana was absorbed from that Noble Phantasm."

We had three wishes, four if one of my Servants were to return to the Greater Grail. A sly smirk appeared on his face. He knew. He was just waiting to see if I would use my last remaining Command Seal to gain an additional wish.

"So, make your wish, victors of the War." He proclaimed with open arms.

I looked at my Servants, my friends, who were all hesitant on what to do.

"Master..." Cursed Arm turned to me. "We have been through much. I have served you well in this War, and I would be honoured to be sacrificed."

He knew what Zelretch meant. He wanted to give me one more wish. His sentiment wringed my heart, but I pushed back the sensation.

"You saved me more times than I can remember, Cursed Arm. You took Berserker head on just to give me time to run, and you protected me from Archer's barrage. Just this time, let your Master be selfish." I looked at Zelretch. His mischievous grin morphed into one I could not place.

"The three wishes will be left to my Servants. I have fulfilled most of my desires already."

"Master." The three voices spoke in union, in shock, in disbelief.

"Very well, Master of the Assassins. Now, the three of you, speak of your wish."

The three were quiet, undoubtedly stunned by my decision.

“I wish to remain on this world, to properly serve my Master indefinitely.” Cursed Arm spoke first, his deep voice that I had grown accustomed to filled with conviction.

“You don’t have to do that.” I spoke up, to try and dissuade him, but he stared back, and removed his mask to reveal a featureless face. The hole where his mouth would have been grew into a smirk as he gave a deep bow.

“It’s my wish, Master, and I promised you that I would protect you.” His words struck a chord within me. When he had told me that right after Berserker died, after he was almost impaled, I thought it was just something he said in the heat of the moment. A weird feeling filled my chest, and I could feel it shuddering. Tears threatened to fill my eyes as Hundred Faces stood in front of me.

“I wish to remain on this world too, to properly serve my Master indefinitely.” Her words were proud, and her hand tousled my hair when I cried openly.

“Why?” I managed to choke out through the sobbing. She pulled off her mask, revealing beautiful sharp features with purple eyes. A proud smile adorned her lips, and her arms brought me into an embrace. Her spiritual body felt warm to the touch as she held my sobbing form.

“Because you did so much for us, because you are kind, because you are our Master.” The soft voice of Serenity was muffled by the arms around me.

“I wish to be human again, with a human body.” Serenity’s mask joined the others, and fell to the soft grassy ground.

Zelretch stayed quiet, before giving a short laugh. I broke out of Hundred Faces arms, and stared at him.

“I’ll grant those wishes myself.” A genuine smile was on his face, making it seem out of place on the usually childish and mischievous Dead Apostle. “Now, sleep my children.”

 

* * *

 

“Good job on the singularity Gudako, I’ll take care of the rest from here.” Romani’s voice came over the magecraft device.

“Thank you!” She called back to him before the call ended. Humming to herself, she started walking back to her room, with Mash following behind her.

“Senpai, have you heard of the Sect of Assassins?”

The soft voice of the Demi-Servant turned the head of her Master, who hummed in thought.

“Sect of Assassins? Isn’t that the Master who has only Assassins? I heard they are all close friends.” She recalled, the information vague in her mind.

“Well, it’ll be better to call them a family.” Mash gave a small smile.

“Ah! Mashuuu-!” A blurred flying body impacted her own, and she let loose a cry of surprise as they fell to the ground.

“Senpai!” She vaguely heard Mash’s voice cry out as she shook the stars out of her eyes, trying to regain some semblance of awareness.

“Ah sorry! I just got so excited when I saw Mash!” The loud girl on top of her cried out as she jumped up. She had brown skin and purple eyes and hair, with a tight black suit on her body covering most of her skin.

“You should look before jumping Serenity.” A male voice, exasperated and amused, sighed from in front of Gudako. The person looked to be in his thirties, with a mole on the bridge of his nose and a messy dull grey head of hair. A soft smile graced his lips as he watched Mash help the Master up.

“Sorry about my Servant, she gets easily excited.” A wink caused the purple haired Servant to pout and blush slightly.

“It’s not a problem.” She gave the other Master a big smile and a nod. “I’m Gudako.”

He took her offered hand and shook it, returning the smile with a polite one of his own.

“Jun. That’s Assassin, or Serenity.” He introduced his own Servant, who was busy chatting and laughing with Mash behind them.

“You summoned her?” A simple question that induced a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was staring past the present. His smile remained polite, but somehow grew fond.

“Yeah, I did.” His polite smile turned into a small grin. His black eyes glanced at his watch, before he gave her a small bow. “If you would excuse us, we have to get to the training grounds.”

“Oh, that’s alright.” She gave him a large smile as he left with his Servant. Left alone in the corridor, Gudako turned to Mash.

“Did you know them?” She asked.

“Senpai, that’s the Master of the Sect of Assassins.” It wasn’t shocking, seeing as how he had an Assassin class Servant with him. “And, Serenity-chan wanted to have lunch with me, so I was going to ask when we are going to be free next week.”

She could feel her lips splitting as her grin grew bigger. An opportunity to tease her adorable Demi-Servant would always be used, regardless of situation.

“My my, it looks like my kouhai is growing up.” An exaggerated sigh was drawn out as she gave Mash a sly look, watching her face blush up a storm. “Already finding herself a date-“

“Senpai!”

The embarrassed exclamation only served to make her laugh harder.

 

* * *

 

“Hya-chan, can you stop bullying Serenity?”

The pout was audible, but the mumbled apology that followed almost missed my ears.

“It’s too boring here in Chaldea, Jun, and you know it.”

Cursed Arm set down his tea cup, and gave a deadpan stare at her.

“Boring is good.” His baritone voice betrayed a hint of amusement as he laid back against the sofa, his dull skull mask catching the light overhead. “We don’t have to do much here. If we did, Master will be panicking too.”

“Well, true…” Hundred Faces pouted once more, before standing up and leaving. “I’m going to find Ishtar to bug her.”

“Don’t go overboard with your Phantasm!” I called out after her. Without looking, she responded with a thumb up.

“We’re going to get so much flak from the maintenance crew again.” Cursed Arm stated. We all chuckled slightly at that.

Taking the opportunity, Serenity moved from her position across me. The body of Serenity sat down next to me, and the warm sensation her skin gave off as she leaned against me slightly made me look down at her. She looked up with a small smile, before wrapping her arms around me.

“I’ll leave you two love birds alone.” Cursed Arm chuckled at Serenity’s flustered blustering.

“Remember to come back for dinner uncle!” His sigh and facepalm that followed my own teasing elicited laughter from the two of us left on the sofa.

I ran my fingers along her short purple hair, feeling each lock slowly unravel as I gently tugged it free before repeating the motion. Her shuddering body under my fingers curled up more against my body, tightening the embrace.

“I love you.” A tender blush bloomed on her face as I ran a finger along her cheeks. She reached out with her hand, pausing with her usual slight hesitance, before taking my finger within her grasp.

“I love you too.” Her soft reply was punctuated with a light kiss on my fingertip.

The gentle caress of silence was soothing and relaxing.

“I’m lucky Zelretch didn’t just give me a normal body like I had asked for.” I barely managed to make out Serenity’s soft voice. I hummed in agreement.

“You would feel so useless if your poisons were gone.” My laughter was immediately replaced by coughing as she punched my stomach.

“Don’t expose a girl like that.” She pouted in mild annoyance. I took the opportunity and went in for a quick peck on her lips.

“But you like being exposed.”

Her blush did not deter the sly smirk that slowly grew.


End file.
